Variety

Dec 18 - 25

By DANIEL OKAMURA

South Coast Beacon

South Coast residents may have their differences when it comes to politics but most of them can profess at least one thing in common: a love for the ocean. What better way to express that love for all things marine than through a holiday benefit? The Santa Barbara Marine Mammal Center presents its 27th annual holiday benefit show featuring films, videos, slides, a silent auction, gifts and three special guests at 7 p.m. Friday.

Undersea explorer
Jean-Michel Cousteau describes his latest adventures at a coral island where the wildlife had never learned to fear humans and his shock to discover that even at a seemingly untouched location, human activities were having significant ecological effects.

Famed photographer and cinematographer Bob Talbot describes his successes and setbacks filming sharks underwater with an unwieldy IMAX movie camera, which, once placed in a special waterproof housing, became virtually immovable.

Ralph Collier, chairman of the Shark Research Center and leading West Coast authority on shark attacks, presents some surprising discoveries from four decades of shark research and autographs copies of his new definitive book on shark attacks.

Proceeds from the event benefit the all-volunteer Santa Barbara Marine Mammal Center’s rescue program.

The Santa Barbara Marine Mammal Center 27th Annual Holiday Show opens its doors at 6 p.m. Friday, and the show starts at 7 p.m. at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History’s Fleischmann Auditorium, 2559 Puesta Del Sol Road. Admission is $18 general, $15 for Marine Mammal Center supporters, youth under 13, students and seniors. Call 682.4711 for information.